Quill & Talon Volume I Spring 2017
About the Title
Mr. Richard Heilemann
Invoking the image of gentle quill making subtle points and talons lifting the unsuspecting out of their peaceful reality, this proposed title makes use of the school mascot Eagle while hinting at the age-olde (and olde-timey) naming tradition of two objects set together, still seen in pub names and the like.
Quill & Talon volume i Literary Arts Magazine South El Monte High School South El Monte, CA Spring 2017
Editors
Becky Luo Karen Chau
Advisor
Ms. Natasha Lelchuk
words Abigail Alacio & Evelyn Orbe A New Journey Aldair Rodriguez The Price of Fame Alma Bretado-Hernandez Love Song? Alondra Montero Crazy Disaster Angelica Salas Yellow Anonymous Sonnet I Belle Salvador Old Flame Carolina Porfirio Life is like a song Cesar Robles Shelves Diana Camacho Too Late e.a. 3517 Emily Doan Poetry Eric MagaĂąa I Will Be A Champion Jassmine De La Rosa Poem 7 Jeffrey Barragon-Ramos Billy on Morphine Jennifer Padierna Maxson Road School Jessica Madrigal The Power of Cigarettes Jesus Luna You Make Me Lovely Jonathan Martinez Untitled Krystal Martin Morning Never Enough
14 45 23 25 16 36 35 30 31 29 44 9 45 43 6 39 27 10 50 53 19 31
Lexxy Savannah Garcia Promises Made With Lies Linda Lucero Buried Lucia Rodriguez Pull Me Out Maria Diaz One Chance Merlisse Palacios Be Cool Myrka Vargas City of Jazz S. Aurelia Q. Poem Samantha Gowin My Sun Selena Ibarra Enchiladas Stephanie Escobedo The smallest noise Steve-O Pacheco Of Sorrow and Grief Vanessa Gonzalez Seventeen in five Victoria Andrade Untitled Victoria Martinez Wetbacks
27 9 28 42 25 50 49 32 53 47 13 40 23 20
art Angelica Salas Blues Dying Flowers, Higher Buildings Intimacy Neuron Cell Ashley Burton Untitled Becky Luo Untitled #1 Untitled #2 Frankie Hernandez The Story Behind Her Eyes Heidi Luu Untitled Katharine Bang Water Dance Miguel Olivares Dragon Ball Z Raymundo Canales Dattebayo Stupafacente Summer Peace Yailynn Corona The Eye of Nature
34 22 51 38 11 18 48 8 26 12 7 15 46 24 52 37
from the artists and writers
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Jeffrey Barragan-Ramos Billy on Morphine
“Billy was tied down, And given a shot of morphine” They put him on a bed to relax and let the opium take hold, but he wasn’t ready to relax. suddenly, The morphine began to spread through his limbs and veins, and he could feel a warm blanket of nirvana spread through his whole body. “Billy has a dream of giraffes in a garden” he could see them but he couldn’t tell how, He hadn’t realized it yet but he was a giraffe too. Suddenly an impulse of hunger came over him, “He ate a pear but it fought back against his teeth”, as if it was resisting against his attempt to eat it. The giraffes seemed to accept Bill as one of their own. Two lemon-yellow giraffes went up to Billy the Giraffe, and pressed their long muscular lips on him on his face. And suddenly they had horns sticking out of their heads but the horns were covered with velvet. Night time came and Billy the Giraffe slept with the other giraffes. He slept calmly without dreaming for a while and then he before he knew it he was travelling through time. And he woke up to find the world had disappeared.
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Miguel Olivares
Dragon Ball Z Pencil, Ink
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Frankie Hernandez
The Story Behind Her Eyes Ink
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Emily Doan Poetry
Poems are a form of literature. Everyone can write a poem, However not everyone Can write a good poem. This is not a good poem, I cannot write poems.
Linda Lucero Buried
So although you are no longer here My heart still feels you are near You told me not to cry You told me I would be fine But when I threw down your flower Every part of me had devoured
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Jessica Madrigal
The Power of Cigarettes
“It helps,” he says. “It helps a lot.” Casting a glass eyed look at the window, he brings the fag back up to his lips and takes a long, deep drag, the end glazing red. He holds the smoke in for several seconds, all while flicking the butt of the fag and letting ashes fall into the glass bowl sitting on the window seal. “Helps with what exactly?” “With the stress. With the pain of knowing he’s never coming back.” His voice cracks, and he chokes back a whimper. “Helps with the sorrow of knowing that his hand will never be placed on my thigh anymore like how it would be when I sat in the passenger seat of his car. Helps with trying to understand how he can be so happy while I walk around all day fucking miserable.” He gives a sad bitter laugh. “That he doesn’t need me in his life. It mainly just helps with knowing that he doesn’t love me anymore, you know?”
“It helps,” he says. “It helps a lot.”
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Ashley Burton Untitled
Scratchboard
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Katherine Bang Water Dancer Digital
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Steve-O Pacheco
Of Sorrow and Grief
If I am to dream and dream is to me things I see are the Mind’s of thought the things I ought to knot the paradox I use the prints of blues of clues to use the things I Stand on hand to understand brains of thoughts the man I am Mechanic fantic of abstract tactic to bind the word the, Birth of one I am not done I am the one all- Mother. The things I hate, the things I see, the things I feel, Sorrow. I see the eyes of my child Solomon or Samson the wild I Stand on hand to understand the brains of thoughts woman I am. These verbs or words cannot hurt for curse of the Origin of end let me attend, am I the ender? To catch the bluff of breath I step to the world of The things I hate, the things I see, the things I feel is Grief.
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Abigal Alacio & Evelyn Orbe A New Journey
“So you’ve reached the end, One more step and you’re done…” “After all the things you’ve been through hasn’t it been tough my friend?” “You stand on a tall, glass pillar to look forward ahead, or fall back behind time is ticking as soon as it cracks Make a choice fast, the glass won’t last.” Time heals wounds but not these cracks You look forward to see it blank You look back and see it stained look up but you can’t see look down and falling seems so easy You’re afraid to fail through leap of faith the glass is breaking, quick make haste Don’t bring the past it’ll make the water murky Start in clean to keep yourself healthy Clean start, spirit, mind and body to begin a new legacy on your own journey. “Oh the stories they’ll tell the songs they’ll be singing so you’ve reached the end But oh my friend This is only the beginning.”
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Raymundo Canales Dattebayo
Digital Photograph
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Angelica Salas Yellow
My chest always feels heavy I don’t know why, but I’ll try My best to explain. So here goes nothing. I hope you know what you did And I get it might be hard for you to grasp So let me help you understand. You and your love was sick and selfish, You stole what was suppose to be the most beautiful moment in my life and Instead you made my worst fear come true. You took advantage of me, You used your sadness as an excuse, You used your love as an excuse. You made me think I was hard to love that i didn’t deserve love, You made me feel so worthless. I cared about you so much, I wanted nothing but the best for you. But to you I was just a body.
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It’s not all your fault I’d follow the devil as long as he made me feel pretty. You said I was the one for you, but how could you say that when you didn’t like anything about me, when I wasn’t enough for you, it doesn’t make sense. You didn’t love me, cause if you loved me you wouldn’t have been looking for attention from other girls. If you loved me you would have cared about the amount of pain I was in. If you loved me you would have cared about my well being and happiness, like I cared for yours, it’s not all about you I feel pain too, I want to be happy too, I want to feel loved too. I thought yellow was a happy color But in reality it symbolizes death. I’ve never had a sincere apology Cause when you did it was still my fault. I won’t go into how you broke me cause I’d probably fall into a million pieces. This is not an attack, it’s a fact. I’m tired of saying sorry.
This is not an attack, it’s a fact. 17
Becky Luo Untitled
Digital, Photography
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Krystal Martin Morning
It was 6 a.m. woke up to the silent cries of my mother when I looked at her, all that stood out where her eyes She stood up got my hands and hugged me I can feel her tears falling on my shoulder; can it be? the day I was never looking forward to my mom sits me down and tells me, “he’s gone” As I hear those words come out of her mouth I slowly begin to cry I begin to ask myself why did he have to leave? 12-17-53
♥
4-6-16
S.A
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Victoria Martinez Wetbacks
To many of you these words will mean nothing but Hate from a young person’s soul Because there is a race being fought And shoulders being turned cold But my fellow people what about us? The people who do your yards, or clean your home? Are we nothing to you? You don’t even make a fuss It’s as if we’re in one big dome Can’t make a sound Can’t shed a tear Cause if so we’ll be found We already live in fear Apparently we aren’t welcome here Got my family going back to their country We’re ALL living in fear But people still make jokes saying “Why don’t you join cross-country?” I don’t understand Maybe you can make it clear for me Is it because I’m tanned? Or because my arms look too beastly? Why can’t you see that we are tired too? Being called beaner and wetback Yet my mom wakes up early at two To keep a roof over our heads, she ain’t got time to slack
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Why can’t you see that we’re tired too? So tell me why does having a “wetback” seem funny? When to me it shows the hard work and bullshit we pull through No matter what type of weather; hard rain or a blue sky that’s sunny We don’t even get a “Thank you” maybe only from one or two At school I got people saying you’ll barely make it out of high school Telling me It’s not me it’s my genes So now being Mexican means you’re a fool? “It’s not that” they say, it’s cause you’re going to get pregnant by your teens People suddenly assume many things about me Thinking I’ll serve men first when it comes to food Nah man first comes me Then you So please when it comes to us don’t think of beans and rice Cause we’re humans too, Made of Sugar, Spice and everything nice
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Angelica Salas
Dying Flowers, Higher Buildings Digital Photograph
now please don’t let me go.
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Alma Bretado-Hernandez Love Song?
It has been played once more The song of love, That you once wrote, Remember our quote? “Love is everywhere we go” Now please don’t let me go.
Victoria Andrade Untitled
you will be amazing you will do great any place in the world there is always a date for you to achieve the greatest success with what you believe is what you do best
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Raymundo Canales
Summer
Digital Photograph
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Alondra Montero Crazy Disaster
Wind blows girls’ hair gets On their face if it’s not in a ponytail Chillier even hot water might come Out of the ocean many lives would Be destroyed or even torn away Because of the weather
Merlisse Palacios Let’s Be Cool
Let’s be cool, And fall in love like fools, Must feel nice, To fall in love twice, Let’s be real, And say what we feel.
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Heidi Luu Untitled
Digital Photograph
They’re lucky. You’re lucky. 26
School
Jennifer Padierna Foolish students roam the hallways Pushing and shoving everyone in their way Floating from class to class, The rooms are filled with leaked dreams, with hopes and promises. They all whisper with a loudness Wanting to be heard. But there’s a girl over there who sits and observes Humble and quiet who dreams will be heard.
Pain radiates through these walls. Cries of anguish still echo. Can you hear it? No one can hear it, No one ever listens. They’re lucky. You’re lucky. These sounds of agony are deafening. Not many ever know.
Lexxy Savannah Garcia
Promises Made With Lies
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Lucia Rodriguez Pull Me Out
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Diana Camacho Too Late
Humans tend to realize too late We sometimes have it all right on the the tip of our noses, but We’re too blind to see, or we’re simply caught up. We get trapped in that non existent state of mind. Truly believing that there’s hope on the other hand We think there’s change, wanting to push what we have aside. But is there ever complete change? When it comes to shattered hearts and toxic people? So we go back. Forgetting of how good we had it. Of the nights, when nothing could crash our happiness. Forgetting the way we had started to perceive, And of all those heart stopping moments that had made us fall all over again. Once we’re completely convinced that the wrong move was made, We regret. We sit and regret. And we wish and repeat it over and over in our heads. How can we, humans, be so ignorant?
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Carolina Porfirio
Life Is Like A Song Life is like a song, some are sad, others are for us to singing, some are beautiful melodies That make us dream. If you think about them that many you like And one of them will one day remind you that your life rhymes, Rhyme nonstop every day every night And each morning upon awakening notes come out, Notes sound in your daily walk, Give life to bring joy to this symphony But one day your song will stop instantly.
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nothing is never enough my love for you it was never enough the things I gave you that were never enough the night I would cry for you that wasn’t enough times when I’d think about you that wasn’t enough when is it ever enough for you?
Krystal Martin Never Enough
The shelves are trying to talk to me, Telling me they want me to acknowledge them. The books within the shelves Are lonely, cold, and tired. They call my name, hoping I would turn and look. The open pages stare into my soul. Without a doubt they grab my attention The pages begin drawing me in with noise, Yet they are in absolute silence. The shelves are to blame.
Cesar Robles Shelves
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Samantha Gowin My Sun
How I wish you were my moon To illuminate my nights And save from loneliness But you claim to be incapable You say you are my sun To brighten my days and warm my body. You are my sun, You burn me and spread your cancerous rays You are my sun in this feverish frenzy I call life Your sweltering heat swallows my energy You are my sun, You light my sky, but ignite fires around me You are my sun, But how I wish you were my moon.
You are my sun, But how I wish you were my moon.
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Brian Rangel
Lost in my Temptation
Ink
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Angelica Salas
Blues
Digital Photograph
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Belle Salvador Old Flame
In my eyes I saw you, You became something I’d never thought of. I feared you’d neglect me and turn the other cheek. But you didn’t, instead you told me how you really felt about me. You told me you loved me and so did I. In the moment you expressed your love to me, I realized what this meant for us. A chance, a chance to be together… Everything was clear to me. I knew it all along. I wanted this day to come for a long time, and it finally has. You were my first true love and my best friend. The one I told my darkest secrets and admires. But soon that would all change. I found out about her… What did you think, that I wouldn’t find out about her? Rumors travel fast around these halls. Clearly I wasn’t enough for you, because if I was You wouldn’t have gone behind my back and act like everything was normal, When actually you were stabbing me in the back. You just went and threw away what we had...could’ve had. Now my eyes have gone into a dark depression. Where there is a never ending escape of agony. Even though you broke my heart I still see you As that person I once called my true love. I know one day this will be nothing and you will be Just another memory, an unforgettable memory. You took a part of me away and now I’m going to walk away 35
Sonnet I
Anonymous
While peering into dark and murky water, the water peers back staring menacingly. Amidst is fear for son and little daughter, still the watery bank is grinning devilishly. The heights can make you feel uncomfortable, or they can make you unstoppable. Atop the mountain fear is horrible, don’t peek for too long or you will break your back. Some call it hell while others call it heaven, I don’t call it death to be forgiven, I call it death because I just give in, death is a crying grin faking kingpin. We all have phobias and mine is death, but deaths’ is life and I am living mine.
The heights can make you feel uncomfortable, or they can make you unstoppable.
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Yailynn Corona
The Eye of Nature Oil Pastel
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Angelica Salas Neuron Cell
Digital Photograph
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Jennifer Padierna Maxson Road
Up and down the dirty sidewalk the concrete is covered with gum, I notice the children trying to count them seeing who can count the highest. Teens stay out till late at night, riding their bikes through the streets recklessly asking to get hit by a driving car. Doing stuff they aren’t suppose to they post it on social media, Being induced by love and drugs I see and think that could be me. Their parents clueless I feel sympathy for them they work impossible jobs to make their children happy while they just throw it away, giving into peer pressure. I walk through the park with the newly planted trees and the smell of cannabis flows through the air odd if it wasn’t, I keep walking I sit and watch everyone going through their lives while I just ponder if I am ever going to leave this messed up neighborhood.
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Vanessa Gonzalez Seventeen in five
For the one Who plays a major role In my way of life Without ever actually Showing up. I am seventeen in five One less than her When both of you Brought me here Our time was cut short Thanks to your selfishness Did you think About how much I would need You on my first day of school? Did you think About how much I wanted to Give you a gift On those three important days In one year? Did you think About how much I would’ve loved To be part of your family, To pronounce your name as mine With honor and pride, Not shame? 40
Don’t be there for me Ever. Did you think About how much I would’ve loved To have you walk me to a new life Or to help me celebrate Sitting in classrooms for twelve years? No. You didn’t. I stopped asking for you at six. I stopped missing you at eight. Father’s Day became another Mother’s Day And an Uncle’s Day. Why? Three women and two men were there For the past sixteen Seventeen in five More than you ever have And ever will be. I’v never actually needed you It’s simply a thing that would be nice to have, But I still cry at times Because there’s things That I wish you could see, But you can’t and You never will. Don’t be there for me Ever. 41
Miracle would it be...
He was a sweet lie, That without doubt I without give him A second chance. Miracle would it be, If his true self got, What he wished But in reality the only Astonishment of this is Not giving that second chance, And having the benefit Of seeming him crush down. For he gave up first, No looking back at what or who was left. Only forward he went‌
One Chance Maria Diaz
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Poem 7
Jassmine De La Rosa
I was out for a walk when I saw him and suddenly my heart stopped The person I thought i was going to spend the rest of my life with was standing in front of me. It has almost been 9 months since I last seen his face. He was still so handsome and I had forgotten about the other person that was causing me pain and started thinking about all the times we had spent together. I smiled so big, wow I actually loved him. 1 year wasn’t enough time to spend with him, it went by so quickly I wanted to go up to him and yell and cry and hug him and tell him if we can forget the pass so we can happen again but I couldn’t. But he is now the past and my smile faded. All the times we spent together are just memories , WE can never happen again. I started thinking about why he left me, he lost feelings for me. He left me to die in his garden “Don’t go back to that,” I said and walked the other way.
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Eric Magaña
I Will Be A Champion
I will be a champion I will rise to the top Nothing is going to hold me back All the positive in front All the negative in the back Time to shine bright I will reach my goals I will be a champion
Aldair Rodriguez The Price of Fame
“Throw me to the walls and I shall return leading the pack.” “I may be an actress, but that doesn’t mean I’ll stick to your script.” “In a town full of phonies, I’m not afraid to be me.” “I’m an enigma, wrapped in a riddle and cash.” “In my world money doesn’t talk, it swears.” “I’m an expert on luxury and I can always spot a fake.”
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Raymundo Canales Stupefacente
Digital Photograph
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The smallest noise
Stephanie Escobedo The smallest noise: A creek in the floor boards, A crunch from the fallen leaves. Has me out of breath, My mind jumping to conclusions my heart pumps blood throughout My body. It has created this sense of fear That has me tossing and turning. But still, my addiction to learn more Doesn’t stop. I listen carefully to every movement, Anything that could make the hair on my arms stand The dark stories have me hooked
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Becky Luo Untitled
Watercolor
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S. Aurelia Q. Poem
Everybody looks at her with sparkling eyes she wishes to be more free and lies, She tells them happiness is all that she can be. But at night when her mind is free, she cries herself to sleep, Wishing to be saved from the voices inside her head. In the daytime when the sun is out and she Seems fine. They continue to look at her with their funny eyes. She no longer cares so she smiles and fixes her hair. Now no one knows and neither does she that when the time comes she will be free. You see, she’s the pretty little thing who has been perceived as perfect.
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You Make Me Lovely Jesus Luna
You make me lovely Honey we are made for each other So don’t bother to leave You won’t bother me if you stay We’ll go to the beach and walk by the bay We’ll make memories And when we talk about them we’ll make them sound Like harmonies
City of Jazz Myrka Vargas Jazz is what united us we, Listen to it all day, sat at the end of the lake together. With the quiet breeze at the edge of the path tone sounds was heard every summer. Summer was coming to an end, The earth felt alive with that Sound of music so poise and Beautiful.
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Angelica Salas Intimacy
Digital Photograph
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Peace
Raymundo Canales Digital Photograph
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Untitled Jonathan Martinez I walked away from home and found a stray dog. After a while i started jogging to home in the moonlight, Soon i got home bored and tired from over exhaustion. This home was alone with nothing to eat. There was a goat in the mountains ready to meet. I walked far from home and found a cat alone.
Enchiladas Selena Ibarra Hot with spice Cheese in the inside Very good and nice I drink with lemonade Or water On top you can put lettuce and cream To make it more spicy Add some green chile My all time favorite Mexican food... The enchiladas.
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from the artists and writers Abigail Alacio
The main reason I wrote this poem was because I thought “Why not?” I hope to be a writer one day and I always found poetry to be such a unique art style. I really wanted to portray that something old would be hard to move on from and something can be scary but you’ll never know unless you want to take that leap of faith. This poem was my friend’s and I leap of faith.
Angelica Salas
My inspiration for this piece was something I went through, something I don’t really talk about, and no one really knows. I decided to create and share because it was a way for me to get it off my chest without needing to talk about it. There is a lot of meaning behind my poem and it’s very personal to me. Thinking about people reading it makes me feel really exposed. The meaning is up to the reader—I won’t tell you what to make of it.
Becky Luo Why not?
Evelyn Orbe
What inspired me to write this poem was the difficulties that people go through, you can’t let it hold you back, you have to move forward, always. We all go through difficulties, but you can’t let it break you down, there’s always a beautiful outcome to a bad situation.
Carolina Porfirio
What inspired me to write the poem was life hard circumstances that I was going through. My favorite poet is Federico Garcia Lorca. I decided to share this piece because some people don’t understand the meaning of what it actually is life trying to tell you. The meaning behind this is that you have to listen to life carefully in order to understand what it means. (It’s an infinite playlist.)
Katherine Bang
I wanted to stray a little bit from the pieces I usually did previously. I also wanted to experiment with different backgrounds and effects. My inspiration came from games that used plenty of water aesthetics. 54
Frankie Hernandez
What had inspired me was the idea of creating my own scene of “Sleeping Beauty”. One of my favorite artists is Mei Yu,. She is a wonderful artist and I love her creativity when it comes to making art challenges. I had no reason behind creating this piece i just let my mind run free and drew whatever flows through my mind. I had shared this piece just to see other people’s opinions. The meaning behind this piece is depending on how the person perceives it. My artwork is open for all the perceive it. I decided to title my piece, “The Story Behind Her Eyes” because of how her eyes shows the darkness in her life or soul. This all depends on how a person perceives it. My friends motivated and pushed me to continue doing art even when I wanted to give up. Thus, this motivated me to continue creating this art piece.
Jessica Madrigal
What inspired me is the aftermath of every relationship I’ve witnessed or read. I watch a lot of poetry slam videos and although she isn’t well known, my favorite poet would have to be Sabrina Benaim, who appears in a lot of Button Poetry videos. I had just finished a book when I decided to write this small piece. It was about an abusive relationship and the partner not realizing that he was never really appreciated until his abuser left him. And that inspired this piece of a random man talking to someone about how he till misses and loves his ex partner after all the physical, mental, and emotional abuse. The only meaning behind this is that it’s not easy moving on from someone who loved you yet hated you at the same time. It’s raw and bittersweet. It was a piece that was never supposed to be written but it was.
Heidi Luu N/A.
S. Aurelia Q.
This poem was the result of how I’ve been feeling lately. I feel like we judge people and sometimes even label them something they are not. Many people said my poem was ambiguous, however, others said it was authentic. I did not make any changes because i didn’t want to change the meaning behind it. The girl in the poem represents the people who have conflicted emotions and have a hard time expressing themselves. I wasn’t inspired by any artist or poet, although I do consider Edgar Allan Poe as one of my favorite poets. 55